Cigarette making machine



Jan. 22, 1963 Filed March 20, 1959 G. DEARSLEY CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Jan. 22, 1963 e. DEARSLEY 3,074,414

CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE Filed March 20, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR.

ATTOKA/E') Jan. 22, 1963 s. DEARSLEY 3,074,414

CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE Filed March 20, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Ti o -'F .9M

ATTORNEY United States Patent Ollice 3,974,414 Patented Jan. 22, 1953 3,074,414 CEGARETTE MAKING MACHII George Dearsley, Raleigh, N.C., assignor to American Machine 8: Foundry Co., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 800,883 8 Claims. (Cl. 131-84) This invention relates to cigarette malc'ng machines and more particularly to an apparatus for forming a cigarette rod continuously.

Cigarette making machines presently available for forming continuous streams of tobacco into cigarette rods have a disadvantage in that the rods they form sometimes vary in density per unit length which results in variations in weight of the finished cigarettes.

Various attempts have been made to correct these variations by detectors which detect the amount of variation and then automatically adjust the feed. Other devices have provided electors for removing defective cigarettes. The corrections so made to the feed are too late to correct the defect, and any cigarettes that are made which are defective, are obviously wasted. In other cases the correcting means have broken up tobacco shreds into undesirably short pieces.

Another object of this invention is to form tobacco streams and rods which are made up of fillers which are uniform in density.

Another object is to form a hollow vertical cylinder of compacted tobacco strands wherein the density of tobacco at the lower end of the hollow cylinder is con stant.

A further object is to provide means for slicing oil a continuous strip from the lower end of the compacted hollow cylinder of tobacco while the opposite end is being built up, thus enabling a continuous process to pro ceed.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear as the description of the particular physical embodiment selected to illustrate the invention progresses.

The invention may be briefly defined as an apparatus for assembling and compacting tobacco particles and for feeding a continuous stream or rod of tobacco for use in making cigarettes. The apparatus contemplates the use of means for forming an endless blanket of tobacco par ticles which may be substantially cylindrical and which may be maintained with its aXis vertical. Loose tobacco shreds or particles are added to the upper end of the tobacco cylinder and a continuous strip or rod of uniformly compacted material is cut from the lower edge the tobacco being uniformly compacted as it moves from the upper edge to the lower edge. The apparatus contemplates the use of means for rotating the tobacco cylinder and cutting the strip or rod of tobacco from the cylinder as it rotates past a cutting member. It is also contemplated that the cut rod of tobacco may be delivered to a receiving means moving away from the cylinder of tobacco at the same speed as the speed of rotation of the cylinder. The compacting is accompanied by the downward movement of the tobacco in the hollow cylinder and is effected by intermittent lateral compressing of the cylinder as it is rotated and by gravity. The apparatus includes elements to achieve the above so as to provide means for delivering a continuous strip of tobacco of uniform compactness and density.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, like characters of reference have been applied to corresponding parts throughout the several views which make up the drawings.

FIGURE 1 shows a diagrammatic perspective view illustrating the manner in which a hollow cylinder may be employed from which an endless stream of tobacco may be slit.

FIGURE 2 shows a vertical sectional view of the feeding mechanism through the center thereof.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 shows a partial elevation of FIGURE 3 in direction of arrow 4.

FIGURE 5 is a partial section of the tobacco cylinder forming mechanism.

FIGURE 6 is a partial perspective and part sectional View of the rod forming mechanism of the device.

FIGURE 7 is a partial sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 8 is a partial sectional view taken on line 3-8 of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 9 is a partial sectional view taken on line 9-9 of FlGURE 6.

FIGURE 10 is an enlarged partial sectional detail of the chain drive mechanism of the device.

Referring to FIGURE 1, there is diagrammatically shown a hollow cylinder of shredded tobacco 2 arranged to rotate on its vertical axis. A belt 4 may be arranged below it to run at substantially the same velocity as the circumference of the cylinder 2, and a knife 6, may be arranged to slit a continuous portion 8 from the lower end of the cylinder 2, which portion is carried away on the top surface of the belt 4. It will be noted that the slitting and carrying away may be a continuous process, the tobacco forming the cylinder 2 constantly moving downwards towards the knife as the strip 8 is pared ofi from its lower end. One form of apparatus which may be used to carry out the process is shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4.

The apparatus for forming the continuous cigarette rod may include two generally cylindrical members 10 and 12 mounted to rotate about a common axis, the cylinder walls being disposed parallel to each other. The inner cylindrical member 16 is smaller in diameter than the outer cylindrical member 12 forming a cylindrical chamber 14- between the walls of members 10 and '12 into which tobacco is introduced to form a compact cylinder corresponding to 2 of FIGURE 1. The tobacco cylinder so formed in the chamber 14 passes down between the cylindrical walls of members ill and 12 by gravity and rests on a thin circular plate 16 which is carried on member 18. Gussets 18a are provided to reinforce the flange 1812. Plate 16 is clamped by an annular clamping member 20 which obviously could be either of a circular form or made up of a series of segments, and bolts are employed to secure the clamping member to circular flange 18b formed on the member 18. Member 18 is rotatably mounted by means of bearings 22 and'24 onto an extension 25 of the main frame of the machine 26 and the member 18 is provided with a gear 28 which meshes with driven gear 44-.

The cylinder member 12 is supported and rotated by three assemblies spaced around the outer periphery of the cylinder member 12. Each assembly includes rollers 39 which support the outer cylinder 12 by engaging and rolling on Lhe tracks 32 and 34, the track 32 being provided with a flange for engaging the upper surface of the rollers 34 to support the weight of the cylinder 12. Each assembly of rollers 39 is carried on a shaft 36 which is supported in the main frame 26 by means of the bearings 38 and 40. The upper ends of shaft 36 are supported by bearings 29 in a frame 31 to hold the roller 30 against the track 34 with sutficient force to provide the necessary traction to drive cylinder 12. The frame 31 may be rigidly mounted on the main frame 26 or may be floating on the bearings 29 which in this alternative would provide its sole means of support. Each shaft 36 is driven by a gear 42 from other parts of the main machine (not shown). Rotation of gears 42 drive the three shafts 36 of the assemblies which in turn drive the rollers 30 to .cause the cylinder 12 to rotate.

face of the cylinder, and is caused to rotate with relation 7 to the outer cylinder 12 and the lower supporting plate 16 by connecting member 11a to an extension of the member 18 with a flexible link. In FIGURE 3 the extension is shown at 52 and the flexible link, which may be of spring steel or fabric material, is shown at 54.

If the member 18 is caused to rotate by being driven by its gear 28, the extension 52 will cause the inner cylinder 10 to rotate also, the cylinder 10 being driven by the flexible link 54. The members 10 and 12, and the support plate 16 will move as a unit when rotated.

In addition to the rotary movement of cylinder 10 an eccentric movement is imparted to cylinder 10 to achieve a vibratory motion in order to facilitate the compacting of the tobacco by gravity in the cylindrical chamber 14-. In order to achieve the vibratory motion, the mounting sleeves 56 and 58 of bearing 50 and 48 respectively are made eccentric to shaft 46. Shaft 46 which is provided with a drive pulley 60 is rotatably mounted in the frame on bearings 45 and 47. Thus, by driving the pulley 6% by means of a V-belt (not shown) the shaft 46 is caused to rotate and, by reason of the eccentrics 56 and 53, will cause the inner cylinder 10 to eccentrically rotate about the true center or axis 59 of the remaining mechanism. The eccentric motion of the cylinder 10 depends upon relative motion between the elements 56, 5% as well as between the elements 58, 48. The frequency of the eccentric motion will be determined by the speed at which the pulley 60 is driven. The path of travel of the cylindrical wall of cylinder 10 will also be eccentric to the main rotating motion which is imparted to the remainder of the mechanism by gears 42, 44, 28 and the rollers 36. It will therefore be seen that the space in which the compacted cylinder of tobacco 14 is formed will be constantly varied in width, thus agitating and compressing the tobacco which is introduced into that space to permit said tobacco to become homogeneously compacted under the influence of gravity.

For purposes of illustration, the variation in width of this space 14 is exaggerated in the drawing, but it will be understood that in practice the amount by which the cylinder 19 is mounted off center relative to the remainder of the mechanism may be quite small.

The upper end of the shaft 46 carries a horizontal disc 62 which is caused to rotate with the shaft. The apparatus is fed a continuous stream of discreet tobacco particles which arrive on the horizontal disc 62.

The upper surface of this disc may be roughened or provided with shallow grooves which engage the tobacco particles to cause them to be flung outwardly by centrifugal force so that they impinge upon the conical inner surface 64 of the outer cylinder 12 to be directed downwardly into the space between the cylinders to form the compacted cylinder of tobacco when they reach the matrix already formed in tobacco chamber 14.

In this way, it will be seen that any inequalities existing in the feed of the tobacco arriving on the rotating disc 62 will be spread circumferentially around the space between the cylindrical walls of members 10 and 12 so that the top surface of the tobacco in the chamber 14 will remain in a substantially horizontal plane.

In order to make possible the slitting of an endless strip from the lower end of the compacted cylinder of tobacco, the lower extremity of the cylinder 12 is provided with a thin cylindrical extension 66, the outside diameter of this extension being equal to that of the lower support disc 16'. The lower end of the inner cylinder 14 is arranged to be horizontally level with the lower end of the cylinder extension 66. These two faces form ledger surfaces against which a knife 68 runs in order to sever the endless strip of tobacco which is used to make the finished cigarette.

In order that the severed strip of tobacco may be of the desired height, the lower support plate 16 is positioned at a suitable distance below the lower end faces of the inner cylinder 16 and the extension 66. The height of the strip may be adjusted by adjusting the distance between the lower supporting plate 16 and the other members as hereinafter described.

In order to enclose the tobacco between thelower ends of the extension 66 and the supporting plate 16, a flexible endless belt 76 shown in FIGURE 3 is wrapped around the outside periphery of extension 66 and also embraces the outside periphery of supporting plate 16 except in the region of the cutting knife 68. As the belt 70 nears the area of knife 63 travelling in the direction of the arrow it is constrained to pass around roller 72 and successively to pass around rollers 74, 76, 78, 80, 82 and to return around roller 84 to its point of beginning on the periphery of the members 66 and 16. The rollers 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82 and 84 may all be idle to permit the belt to be driven by frictional contact with the outside surface of extension 66 and support 16 or some, e.g., rollers 78 and 80, may be driven to assist the movement of the belt.

A stripper plate 86 is provided which guides the lower end of the tobacco cylinder as it leaves the belt 70, at

roller 72. The stripper 86 is provided with a suitable slot to permit the passage of the knife 68 and the walls of the slot support the knife against the ledger faces formed by the lower ends of cylinder 10 and extension 66'. At the same time the tobacco is constrained to move in the desired path. After cutting, the tobacco strip is caused to move tangentially to the main drums by means of the stripper element 88 which scrapes against the lower plate 16 and at a point within the inner diameter of the tobacco cylinder 14 to cause the cut tobacco strip to move ofi of the support plate 16 onto the belt 90.. When this strip is caused to move away from the end of the tosion 92 is formed as a part of the stripper 88. In this 7 way it will be seen that the lower end of the cylinder of tobacco will be supported by, and will slide down the inclined extension 92 onto support plate 16. The vibration imparted to the tobacco in the cylindrical chamber 14 by the eccentric movement of "the inner cylinder 16 will facilitate the shearing in the tobacco mass necessary to enable it to conform to the downward motion.

Referring to FIGURE 4, the stream or rod of tobacco 8 which lies on a top surface of the belt 91 which stream has just been severed by the knife 68 may be seen where a portion of guide 86 has been cut away. In accordance with a common practice, tape 94 is provided onto which an endless cigarette paper web 96 is laid. At the junction between roller 98 and roller 101 the tobacco stream is transferred onto the paper, to be formed into an endless cigarette rod by known means. 7

It is well known to deliver tobacco to the paper at a higher velocity than that employed to carry it away on the paper 96. This is done in order that the condensing or compacting of the tobacco at this transfer point may be selective to improve the weight per unit length of the resulting stream. With this apparatus it is intended to employ this condensing as one possible means of varying w l s the weight per unit length of the final tobacco stream laid upon the paper 96. It will be understood that all the mechanism described up to this point, that is, mainly the cylinders and the band 90, will run in synchrony with each other, but the speed of the whole of this unit may be varied in relation to the speed of the tape 94 and paper 96.

Thus, if the apparatus described is increased in speed relative to tape 94 and paper 96, the density of the stream of tobacco being carried away on the paper 96' will increase. Conversely, if the speed of the whole apparatus is reduced the density of the stream being carried away will also be reduced, thus making it possible to vary the unit weight of the cigarettes finally made.

Another method which may be employed to adjust the unit weight of the stream of tobacco produced is to alter the relative position between the knife 68 and the support plate 16 so as to alter the physical dimensions of the strip of tobacco severed from the cylinder. To accomplish this, the sprocket 102 is provided as shown in FIG. 2. This is connected by chain 104 to a second sprocket 106 as shown in FIG. 10. The bore of the sprocket 166 is provided with a screw thread which runs on a match ing external thread provided on the boss of the extension 25 of the main frame. Thus, by turning sprocket -2 the chain 104 causes the sprocket 106 to turn, which will raise or lower the bearing 24, which will accordingly change the position of the hollow cylinder member 18 as indicated by the two directional arrows in FIG. 10 and so raise or lower the support plate 16 in relation to the knife, thus changing the dimensions of the tobacco stream severed by the knife 68.

It will be appreciated that both of these methods of changing the weight of the final stream of tobacco fed into the cigarette paper may be controlled either manually or in response to any measuring means applied to the cigarette or to the tobacco stream. There are many known methods of implementing this measuring; for example, a suitable detector such as is shown in US. Patent 2,729,213 granted January 3, 1956, to William C. Broekhuysen and Samuel Gilman, which measures the moving tobacco rod at a position subsequent to the point of severance to produce an electrical signal which may be amplified and fed into a servo-motor to actuate the adjusting devices.

With a mechanism as described above, it is apparent that some control must be exercised over the rate at which tobacco is fed onto the distributing plate 62 if the height of the compacted cylinder of tobacco is to be kept reasonably constant, which it must be if the density of its lower end is to remain constant. One method of accomplishing this is to provide a transparent window 108 in the outer cylinder 12. In the same horizontal plane as this window, one or more lights and photoelectric cells 110 are mounted in such a manner that the cell or cells will be able to differentiate between the light reflected from the top of the compacted tobacco cylinder and that reflected from the outside surface of the inner cylinder 10 to provide a signal which may be employed to control the primary feeding means which are responsible for feed ing the tobacco onto the rotating plate 62.

The invention hereinabove described may be varied in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular device selected to illustrate the invention is but one of many possible embodiments of the same. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted to the precise details of the structure shown and described.

What is claimed is:

1. A tobacco feeding apparatus for uniformly compacting and feeding tobacco by vibratory motion comprising an outer cylindrical member and an inner cylindrical member spaced from said outer member, both said members being mounted for rotation about a common vertical axis and forming a cylindrical chamber for receiving and compacting tobacco, said outer member being concentrically mounted with respect to the vertical axis and said inner member being eccentrically mounted with respect to the vertical axis on a separately rotatable shaft, means connecting said members for rotating them at the same speed of rotation and means for rotating the separate shaft whereby said inner member is caused to eccentrically orbit around the vertical axis and thereby vary the spacial relationship between the members to effect a vibrating action, said inner and outer members forming a tobacco receiving opening .at their upper ends and a supporting plate spaced below the walls and rotating with the members to support the tobacco in the chamber and cutting and stripping means for removing a narrow strip of tobacco from the lower end of the tobacco chamber.

2. The tobacco feeding apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cutting means is a rotating disc cutter which extends into the tobacco chamber and cuts against the lower edges of the inner and outer members and wherein the stripping means comprises an element for directing the cut strip of tobacco tangentially away from the tobacco chamber.

3. A tobacco feeding apparatus for uniformly compacting and feeding tobacco by vibrating motion comprising an outer cylindrical member and an inner cylindrical member spaced from said outer member, both said members being mounted for rotation about a common vertical axis and forming, a cylindrical chamber for receiving and compacting tobacco, means for rotating said members in unison and means for imparting an orbital motion to one of the members with respect to the vertical axis whereby the space between the members varies, a tobacco receiving opening at the upper ends of the members, a supporting plate spaced below the members for supporting the tobacco in the chamber, cutting and stripping means for removing a continuous strip of tobacco from the lower part of the tobacco chamber, and a supplemental enclosure disposed in the space between the bottom of the outer cylindrical member and the supporting plate except in the location of the cutting and stripping means.

4. A tobacco compacting and feeding apparatus for forming a continuous stream of tobacco of uniform density comprising an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder spaced from said outer cylinder, said cylinders being rotatable on a common axis, means for imparting an orbital action to the inner cylinder, a hollow substantially cylindrical chamber for receiving and containing a mass of tobacco, a supporting plate spaced below the cylinders for supporting the tobacco in the chamber, means for delivering loose tobacco particles to the upper end of the chamber, means for compacting the tobacco in the chamber, a cutting means maintained at one location to act upon the tobacco as the said chamber rotates, the cutting means including a rotating disc cutter acting against the lower edges of the inner and outer cylinders for cutting a continuous strip of tobacco below the lower edges of the cylinders which is resting on the supporting plate, means for laterally supporting the tobacco between the outer cylinder and the supporting plate, said means comprising an endless flexible belt which contacts the periphery of the outer cylinder and the periphery of the supporting plate, said belt being adapted to move at the same speed as the rotating chamber, and means for guiding the belt away from the peripheries of the outer cylinder and the supporting plate at one location and for returning it to the said peripheries of the outer cylinder at another location spaced from the first location in the region of the cutting means.

5. A tobacco feeding apparatus for uniformly compacting and feeding tobacco comprising an inner cylinder having a smooth external wall, an outer cylinder having a smooth internal wall arranged in parallel and confronting relation with the smooth external wall of said inner cylinder to provide an arcuate space therebetween, a continuous source of supply of tobacco for delivering shredded tobacco into the said space, means for rotating and mov- 1 ing said walls relative to each other to facilitate the tobacco therebetween to fall downwardly, means for continuously severing and removing from the bottom of said space a strip of tobacco rope to be formed into a cigarette rod.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein wall rotating means revolves the tobacco collected in said cylindrical space to bring the lower portion thereof into contact with said cutting means, a plate means closing the bottom of the cylindrical space and supporting the tobacco thereabove and guiding it to the cutting means.

7. A tobacco feeding apparatus for forming a continuous rod of uniformly compacted tobacco comprising an inner cylinder having a smooth internal wall, an outer cylinder having a smooth inner wall, and arranged in parallel and confronting relation with the smooth external wall of said inner cylinder to provide an arcuate space therebetween, a continuous source of supply of tobacco delivered into the said space, means for rotating said inner and outer cylinders to cause the tobacco located therebetween to be revolved, means for imparting an oscillating movement between the inner and outer Walls to facil itate the downward movement of tobacco between said walls and cutting means for severing a strip of tobacco continuously from the lower end of the column of tobacco 2 formed between said walls.

5 and having a smooth inner'face, spaced from said first cylinder and forming a tobacco receiving chamber therebetween, a tobacco feed continuously delivering tobacco into said chamber, means for rotating said cylinders to rotate the tobacco in said chamber, means for causing 10 relative movement between said smooth walls to facilitate the tobacco therebetween to settle downwardly while rotating and means for removing a strip of tobacco continuously from the lower end of the settled tobacco and forming the same into a cigarette rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 459,118 Allison Sept.8, 1891 0 548,686 Williams -1- Oct. 29, 1895 1,709,299 Bargeboer Apr. 16, 1929 FOREIGN PATENTS 624,871 Germany Jan. 30, 1936 5 289,343 Great Britain Apr. 26, 1928 Great Britain Apr. 2, 1948 s l l l I x 

3. A TOBACCO FEEDING APPARATUS FOR UNIFORMLY COMPACTING AND FEEDING TOBACCO BY VIBRATING MOTION COMPRISING AN OUTER CYLINDRICAL MEMBER AND AN INNER CYLINDRICAL MEMBER SPACED FROM SAID OUTER MEMBER, BOTH SAID MEMBERS BEING MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT A COMMON VERTICAL AXIS AND FORMING, A CYLINDRICAL CHAMBER FOR RECEIVING AND COMPACTING TOBACCO, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID MEMBERS IN UNISON AND MEANS FOR IMPARTING AN ORBITAL MOTION TO ONE OF THE MEMBERS WITH RESPECT TO THE VERTICAL AXIS WHEREBY THE SPACE BETWEEN THE MEMBERS VARIES, A TOBACCO RECEIVING OPENING AT THE UPPER ENDS OF THE MEMBERS, A SUPPORTING PLATE SPACED BELOW THE MEMBERS FOR SUPPORTING THE TOBACCO IN THE CHAMBER, CUTTING AND STRIPPING MEANS FOR REMOVING A CONTINUOUS STRIP OF TO BACCO FROM THE LOWER PART OF THE TOBACCO CHAMBER, AND A SUPPLEMENTAL ENCLOSURE DISPOSED IN THE SPACE BETWEEN THE BOTTOM OF THE OUTER CYLINDRICAL MEMBER AND THE SUPPORTING PLATE EXCEPT IN THE LOCATION OF THE CUTTING AND STRIPPING MEANS. 